vangoghsear Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 I needed a low wattage, light weight amp for a new church gig I am starting tomorrow. The guy in charge said the last guy who played in my place used a Fender Frontman practice amp and he thought that was fine. I don't care for the Frontman tone, and I didn't have one anyway. I had a 15 watt DOD Grunge with spring reverb, but the clean was too limited. I had a Kustom Sienna 35. The clean was great and I was considering using that with an OD pedal. But I decided to sell the Grunge and put the money towards a new low wattage light weight electric guitar amp with enough clean headroom to play with a drummer. I went to GC looking for either a Mustang 1 or 2, or a Peavey Vyper VIP 1 or 2, then I saw the Orange Crush 35LDX. Much simpler controls, digital effects, sounds great, very nice clean channel, and a built in tuner. Orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hmm, no comments, I thought Oranges had 'a peal.' I've had a chance to play it out and fool around at home with it a bit, so I thought I'd give my one week (almost) review. Cool amp. The controls are different than any other I've ever used. It has a preamp gain and a master volume that impact both the clean and OD channels. There is no clean channel volume just this master volume coupled with the preamp gain. So if you push up the gain you get a nice warm clean by keeping the master volume down but you can still get a nice OD by setting the OD drive level up for some nice natural compression especially considering it's an SS amp. I imagine that the cabinet design plays a big part in the sound. It has a mostly closed back, probably the source of the nice compression, ported in front through the speaker support. The clean and OD tones are very pleasant and remarkably touch responsive for a SS amp. The tones are nice right after turning it on and setting it the way you want. I do miss the effect of the amp opening up as the tubes warm, but no tubes, so the sound when you start is pretty much the sound when you shut it off, but hey a consistent good tone is a good thing. This is no bee-in-a-can OD channel, it's surprisingly warm and articulate, very natural sounding. The drive is variable and can get into metal territory when coupled with high setting on the preamp gain, then the master volume keeps the entire amp volume under control for home use. Going back to a clean may need a bit of tweaking to be at the volume you want when switching out of OD, but this is primarily a home practice amp, so that is not that big a deal or could be compensated by using volume controls on the guitar. The amp is made in "PRC", China I guess. So far I am very impressed with the quality, it's tight and sturdy, attractive (if you like the Orange tolex, and I do) and the controls are labeled in English as well as the Orange Amp typical bizarre symbols. The digital effects, especially the reverb settings, are decent and work well, but you can only select one at a time and the only adjustment is how much effect to add, a little goes a long way. They are very responsive to the amount setting. Overall, great fun in a practice amp format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 never had an orange amp vango.. best of luck with it,, should do what you need. I have two mustangs (a III and a IV - both are version 1) I like them a lot. an MII would certainly do it for sure if the Orange doesn't work out but I can't see that it wouldn't. rock on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I nhad GAS for an OR-15 head but my Mesa 5:25 pretty much gets me there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I like the Orange tube amp sound - very Marshall like but a bit darker perhaps. I owned a Tiny Terror head for a while. Nice little head. A buddy bought the OR15 head but was not happy with it. He gutted it and re-did it handwired. Now he loves it. Being solid state, the Orange Crush 35LDX isn't something I'd be interested in, but I'd own another of their tube amps for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I own an Orange Crush Pix 20LDX (and a 20L, too ). Clean and distorted tone are nice either and can be tweaked nicely for any guitar. However, the 20LDX has no footswitch jack, and the switch on top of the amp won't also help in many cases since most clean settings are not very useful for distortion and vice versa. The 30LDX provides a footswitch jack, so I hope you will find appropriate settings. The gain range of the 20LDX model's distorted channel also depends on the clean input gain setting. Didn't try a 35LDX before, so it could be different. The controls are exactly the same as those of the 20LDX. They are very convenient and easy to use. The headphones jack is not frequency-corrected. It is great for clean sound use, but the overdriven tone is rather harsh. The digital effects seem to be the same on either models, too. They suffer from latency, especially the chorus has an obtrusive pre-delay therefore, and none of the FX allows for editing. There is just a level control. The built-in tuner works pretty well and beats that of my Fender Mustang I V.1 amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Hmmm, when I think of Orange amps, I do not think of church. I think of faux-satanic seventies stoner rock. Sure this is the right amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 Hmmm, when I think of Orange amps, I do not think of church. I think of faux-satanic seventies stoner rock. Sure this is the right amp? The amp is pretty well hidden back of a low wall, even on a stand. Didn't know who used them. I just liked the tones. Thanks kidblast. I went shopping with the Mustang in mind. I haven't heard a bad review of those, then I tried the Orange. I liked the simplicity and the sound. Capmaster, thanks for the tips. The headphones jack is not frequency-corrected. It is great for clean sound use, but the overdriven tone is rather harsh. You're right. Really not very nice through headphones. This speaks well of the cabinet design though, because that OD tone is full and mellow through the speaker with no change of settings from what sounds tinny and harsh in headphones. Riffster, funny thing is, I have a Vintage Sound amp ordered, but I wanted a lighter amp for this gig. Surfpup, yeah, I get the dark Marshall thing. SS or not though, this thing has nice analog tones. I have a nice Kustom Sienna 35, also SS, it sounds good for a while then the sterility gets to you with an electric guitar, it's not bad with an acoustic, but the Orange just sounds nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 No pics, it didn't happen... Post some demo vids! If you look on eBay you can sometimes find those amps refurbished for like $179 I almost pulled the trigger on one and when I went to get it the eBay dealer was sold-out, so I spent the money on a couple pedals instead I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Evol!, I kind of thought similar in relation to the OP comment about using an o/d pedal - I'm thinking 'gee, church music must have improved some since I got dragged along as a kid!' Rock on Vangoghsear! - glad you're finding the Orange is sweet and tasty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrian66 Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Hmmm, when I think of Orange amps, I do not think of church. I think of faux-satanic seventies stoner rock. Sure this is the right amp? LOL! I play in a praise team band at church as well. I picked up a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser awhile back on Craigslist and was always hesitant to play it at church because it says Hellraiser right on the truss rod cover. I finally did one Sunday and thankfully I did not burst into flames during the service! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 LOL! I play in a praise team band at church as well. I picked up a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser awhile back on Craigslist and was always hesitant to play it at church because it says Hellraiser right on the truss rod cover. I finally did one Sunday and thankfully I did not burst into flames during the service! LOL Piece of black electrical tape will fix you right up. Funny though I feel the same way about playing my Westbury Standard because the headstock has a trident on it. It just has that Satanic point on it. Trident (not mine but similar) I didn't feel strange about using the Orange last week though. Evol, we're trying, my man, we're trying. Liked the: "finding the Orange is Sweet and Tasty." Jimi Mac, I want to do some demo vids, not sure what to film it with to do it justice. I've been wanting to demo my Gibson Midtown Kalamazoo as well and of the guitars I've tried through the amp so far that's the best combination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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